8-Year-Old Child Passed Away While Having Sex with Her 40-Year-Old Husband on their Wedding Night

While most 8-year-old girls are still playing with their favorite toys and spending the night with their best friends, in some parts of the world others are being forced into marriage. Sadly, for one Yemeni girl, this tragic fact would cause the end of her life.

The girl’s death came shortly after being married to a 40-year-old man, on her wedding night. According to a human rights activist and two local residents, the young girl was forced into having sex with her middle-aged husband, which led her to suffer from internal bleeding and intestinal issues.

“On the wedding night and after intercourse, she suffered from bleeding and uterine rupture which caused her death,” Othman told Reuters. “They took her to a clinic but the medics couldn’t save her life.”

The girl has been identified as Rawan, and reportedly died in the tribal area of Hardh in northwestern Yemen, which borders Saudi Arabia. Due to Rowan’s very tragic death, activists are now calling for the arrest of her husband in order to aid in the thwarting of such horrid marriage practices in the future. One blogger, Angry Man, posted that the husband was ‘an animal who deserved to be punished severely for his crime.’

“According to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), between 2011 and 2020, more than 140 million girls will become child brides. Furthermore, of the 140 million girls who will marry before the age of 18, 50 million will be under the age of 15.”

“This isn’t the first time a child marriage has happened in Yemen, so we should not focus only on this case,” Mashhour said.

“Many child marriages take place every year in Yemen. It’s time to end this practice.”

“I personally have (talked to) the human rights coordinator for the ministry on the ground in Haradh,” said Mashhour, “and he informed me that nearly everyone he spoke to is denying the story, but he feels strongly suspicious. We feel people may be hiding information due to fear.”

This is such a sad case of obvious child abuse that would never be accepted in any civilized society. Together, humanity must ban together to share cases like this with the world so that such marriages will be stopped. Forcing marriage on little children is not only ludicrous it should be a crime punishable with the fullest extent of the law. The parents, who profit from such exchanges, should also be held accountable, as in the civilized world this would be considered child trafficking.